Cassie (The Mitchell/Healy Family #7)(55)

“Wasn’t she still married. Isn’t that what you just said?”

“He died. He abducted my mother and several other family members and held them at the ranch in Kentucky. This woman he’d been screwing around with ended up shooting him to save my mom. It’s a long and crazy story, but it ends with all of us being born.”

“Wow. I thought I have stories to tell.”

“Oh, you have no idea. My family has a ton of drama, but at the end of the day they’d do anything to stay together.”

“Why’d you leave then? Do you not have the same values?”

I slid to the other side of the tub, feeling as if he was judging me more than usual. “I left because I thought Brant was my future. I left because I was the biggest idiot on the planet.”

“I just don’t understand why you feel like they’d never welcome you back.”

He’d hit a nerve and I couldn’t let it go. “I need to get out of this water. My hands are starting to prune up.” I climbed out and wrapped a towel around me before he ever realized what was going on. When I exited the bathroom he said nothing. He didn’t ask me to come back, or say he was sorry for pushing. I was pretty angry about it.

Logan came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. He climbed on the mattress where I sat and pulled one of my hands up to his lips. “Don’t be mad at me, Cassie. I shouldn’t have pried. It’s none of my business. I just hate knowing there are people who love and miss you.”

I rolled my eyes, because he was apologizing, but still did it anyway. “Seriously?”

“Sorry,” he repeated. “Let me make it up to you. Let’s go have a nice dinner and then we’ll come back and watch a movie in bed. I promise not to bring it up again.”

I was fine with his idea, but there was something he deserved to know. “I can’t face my mom, Logan. That’s why I can’t go back. The things I said to her are unforgivable.”

He stroked the side of my face. “Mothers are stronger than you think. You’d be surprised how much someone is willing to let go just for a second chance. We only have one life, Cassie. I know you don’t understand it from my point of view, but I know what it’s like to never be able to see my parents again. Mine are gone. They’re dead and buried. Your parents are still around. You won’t know how things could turn out if you never try to resolve them.”

“I can’t.” I shook my head. “Maybe you have a point, but I still can’t face them. I can’t look into their eyes and face the fact that I tore out their hearts for a piece of shit like Brant.”

“I have to look at it differently than you. If you never moved to Vegas with Brant, we wouldn’t have met, and we’d never be here right now.” He ran his hand over the back of my hair. “I’m happy I met you, Cassie. I’m glad I could be the one to save you. It’s been nice coming home and knowing you’re there.”

“It’s been nice living in a home where I know I’m safe. I don’t know where I’d be if you hadn’t taken me in.”

“You would have gone home eventually.”



“Or I would have stayed hooked on drugs, eventually living on the streets with a criminal record. You don’t know. I’m grateful for what you did for me, but every day I think about what would have happened if you walked away from me once you had your case sealed and delivered. You could have given up on me.”

“I’m not the kind of man who abandons a beautiful woman.”

“I’m not the kind of woman who had ever believed in a knight in shining armor, but here you are in the flesh, taking care of me and showing me what it’s like to be treated with respect. You’re a beautiful soul, Logan Campbell. I’m awfully glad you came into my life and changed my future.”

He smiled and leaned his forehead against mine. “I wish we could stay here forever, hidden away from the ugly world.”

“We’d need jobs and a means to pay for my eating habits. As nice as it sounds, you and I both know we have to go home.”

He touched my lips with the back of his hand. “I’m taking you home, Cassie. Just promise you’ll be patient with me.”

“I can be patient, but only if you climb under these covers and make love to me. We might have to leave in the morning, but we’ve still got a long evening ahead of us and I’m not ready to call it a night.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

I watched as he lifted the sheets and brought his body to mine. His first kiss was passionate, his hands wandering over my naked skin. When he pulled away he paused for a second, simply staring deeply into my eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to let you go,” he whispered.

“So don’t.”





Chapter 30


Logan


My betrayal was getting worse by the second. She trusted me, all the while I was making phone calls and arranging for her parents to meet us in a nearby town. I knew if I took her all the way home she’d freak out. This way I could ease her into seeing them by doing it in a public place. If I knew Cassie like I thought I did, it would go smoother this way.

The phone call to her parents had my stomach in knots. I’d done my research and got their number, waiting until I thought someone would be there to answer. I was calm and professional, having never spoken to either of them before.